Sonido
by Anatonia Barcelona
Summary: Katalina's combat skills are most certainly nothing to sneeze at, but somehow, for all of her cunning and strength, she still cannot seem to grasp one of the most basic Arrancar techniques. Perhaps the Sexta Espada can offer a different approach. Disclaimer: Bleach and its characters belong to Tite Kubo. Katalina and this story belong to me.
A loud boom echoed in the desert air of Hueco Munco, sand flying up as a body crashed straight through a dune. The white puffs twisted away in the wind, revealing the female Arrancar laying face down in the sand. "Ouch…"

Katalina slowly sat up and put a hand to her forehead, rubbing at the bruise she would definitely have to get rid of later, lest it ruin her pretty face. She moved them to her hair,shaking the sand from it and adjusting the owl skull at the back holding the dark waves in place. Then, she brushed the sand out of the Hollow hole in her right shoulder. After making sure everything was intact, she rose to her feet and cracked her neck, her eyes focused on the wide expanse of desert ahead of her. She rocked on the balls of her feet and took a breath to calm herself. She disappeared with a quiet hum, only to reappear in the air less than ten yards away, skidding across the sky on a plane of spiritual pressure. She rolled to her feet and grunted as she popped her shoulder back into place. "Huh. I never thought air could be so unforgiving."

"So, you suck." Said a voice from behind her, making her body go rigid, "What else is new?"

Katalina felt her eyebrow ticking but, despite her anger, she turned around with a faint smile to look at Grimmjow, who was sitting lazily on one of the dunes below. Just looking at that condescending smirk on his face made all manner of curse words bubble up within her. She fought the urge to let them out, however, not wanting to give her uninvited guest the satisfaction of riling her up. Instead, she put her hands on her knees and bent down as though she were talking to a child. "Why, if it isn't my favorite kitty cat!" She cooed.

The smirk immediately dropped from the blue-haired Espada's face, his eyes immediately narrowing into a glare as he stood up. "Didn't I tell you to quit calling me that?!" he roared.

She giggled as the smile on her face expanded, but didn't quite reach her candy apple-colored eyes; in fact, they barely reached the black and white crescents below them. "Multiple times." She turned away from him. "And didn't I tell you to stop stalking me?"

With another dull hum, she was gone. With an agitated sigh and a shake of his head, Grimmjow also disappeared, landing a considerable distance away and staring directly ahead of him. He suddenly extended one arm and, as if on cue, Katalina came tumbling from out of thin air, her face landing directly in the palm of his large hand. "Just how stupid are you?" he asked as he tossed her about a yard away. "I can't believe you still can't use _sonido_."

"Tch." She allowed her smile to leave her face, replacing it with a frown, and folded her arms. "Not everyone can be as 'gifted' as you. Besides, I could easily kick your sorry butt without it."

Her eyes went wide when she saw a flash of steel coming towards her and reflexively whipped out her own zanpakuto to block it. Staring across the crossed blades, she saw a very angry-looking Grimmjow; had he taken her words as some form of challenge? As soon as Katalina saw his suddenly lips curve into that psychotic grin he was so famous for, she sighed, having received her answer.

Sparks flew as Grimmjow quickly pulled his sword away, rearing back for another attack. Katalina slid out of the way of the oncoming blow, only to have to quickly parry a new strike that was coming from behind her. "Too slow!" he taunted her, suddenly disappearing and reappearing to kick her in the side.

The kick sent her flying a considerable distance, but she tilted herself so she could use her free hand to help her flip back into a standing position, her feet skidding as she finally came to a halt. She had less than a second to rest before Grimmjow was in front of her again, this time aiming a slash at her stomach. With an instinctive block and a twirl she was behind him, about to run her blade through his back, but she only met with air. This pattern continued on. The Sexta Espada would use his _sonido_ to appear out of seemingly nothing, leaving the female Arrancar little to no time to dodge or block whatever attack he threw at her. Katalina was not weak by any means, nor was she slow in combat, but perhaps she shouldn't have shot her mouth off to one of the best _sonido_ practitioners in Hueco Mundo.

As she mulled that over, a fist slammed across her face, sending her spiraling down into the sand so fast it caused a sonic boom. Grimmjow looked down at the massive cloud of dust the woman's body stirred up, smirking with satisfaction at his handiwork. The smirk instantly disappeared, however, when he felt blood from a newly opened wound gluing his jacket to his side. Hearing a dull hum above him, he looked up to see Katalina coming sword-first at him, the dive—along with the lethal look in her eye—a testament to her avian nature. He effortlessly raised his own zanpakuto to block her. "What the actual hell, Grimmow?!" she shrieked, pushing on her sword with more force in the hopes that she could make him slice his own head off.

The man in question simply scoffed. "I don't get what you're so pissy about, _Búho_." He said as he effortlessly shoved her away, sheathing his sword and stuffing his hands into his pockets. "You just did _sonido_ perfectly."

As she prepared to hack his head off his shoulders, she stopped, her eyebrows rising as she looked him in the face. He was right. Just to test it, she focused on the area to her right, her body suddenly appearing there. She did it again, this time appearing twenty feet above where she had previously been standing. When she appeared next to Grimmjow, her lips had curved into a smile so giddy it not only reached her eyes for once, but took up most of her face. "I did it!" she cried, punching the air and hopping victoriously. "I finally did it!"

A few more similar victory exclamations left her and she continued to bounce with pride and excitement. And the more she did it, the harder Grimmow's brow ticked. As she hopped into the air again, he grabbed Katalina by her face and threw her towards the desert sand again. "Shut up! It's not that big a deal!"

He heard the telltale hum of _sonido_ behind him and turned his head to see that the joy had completely left the wavy-haired Arrancar's face and the mysterious smile that seemed permanently etched into her face had returned. "Oh, it's a very big deal." He arched a blue eyebrow at her as she tilted her head, blinking innocently. "Because now you're definitely not safe from me."

Grimmjow was about to make fun of her, but was distracted by a prickly sensation in his abdomen. He did a double take at what he saw. Katalina was tickling the inside of his Hollow hole. **"GAH!"** he shouted, wide-eyed as he jerked away from her, snarling. "Damn it, woman! I know for a fact I told you not to do that!"

She appeared in front of him and slammed her palm into his forehead, drawing a grunt from him. "Who's gonna stop me?"

Grimmjow twitched as Katalina used her newfound skill to make her way back to Las Noches, anger radiating off of him like steam from a boiling teapot.

"KATALINA TARUMI, YOU ARE A DEAD WOMAN!" He roared, disappearing after her.


End file.
